but ruth simmons' new memoir takes us to a time before all that, to the very different circumstances in which she grew up. jeffrey brown traveled to houston for our arts and culture series, canvas. ruth: one thing i have never forgotten is how to reach out to people. jeffrey: for ruth simmons, it was a return to hester house, a community center in houston's fifth ward that played a large role in her childhood. ruth: how to add value to other people's lives, because that's what happened to me. jeffrey: "what happened" is the story simmons, now 78, tells in "up home; one girl's journey", which begins with these words: ruth: i was born to be someone else. someone, that is, whose life is defined principally by race, segregation, and poverty. that, in the end, i did not become the person i was born to be still, at times, confuses and perplexes me. i have always been looking back. jeffrey: you always have? ruth: i have, because imagine going from these circumstances to the presidency of an ivy league university and meeting powerful people and wealthy people. so i've lived in a world that wa

ruth simmons former president of brown and smith and prairie university and drew gilpin faust, the former president of harvard, both came out memoirs. now, is that something that you'll be looking at? yes, it is. and they're both, you know. the cliche of the glass ceiling. but but they broke. they broke lot of those. and again, it's having an insider's view. and they've had interesting ordinary lives, both of them. so, yes, am i am looking forward to to reading both of those. i think they're going to be, you know, not am i interested in women in education, but education as a subject is is compelling the moment. it's it's in some ways in crisis. so collette bancroft, what is on your list to review this fall? well, i am interested in a cat mohanan book, which is called eve how the female body drove 200 million years of human evolution. and she said that the book, the idea of the book was sort of sparked when she talked to a friend about scientific and learned that in all kinds of scientific research, whether it's with human research subjects or animals the norm, is male. how does affect men

ruth simmons, former president of brown and smith and prairie view university and the former presidentard. both came out with memoirs. is that something that you will be looking at? >> yes, it is. they are both, you know, the clichÉ of o the glass ceiling, t they broke a lot of those. again, having an insiders view. they have just had extraordinary lives, both of them. yes, i am looking forward to reading both of those. i think that they will be, you know, not only am i interested in women in education, but education as a subject is compelling at the moment. >> :, what is on your list to review this fall? >> well, i am interested in cap mohan and spoke. how the female body grows 200 million years of human evolution. she said that the idea of the book sort of sparked when she talked with a friend about scientific research and learned that in all kinds of scientific research, whether it is with human research subjectsm, or animals, the norm is male. how does this affect men or mail , you know, lab rats or whatever. what we have discovered recently is that that is not a great way to appro

our last two guests, we had ruth simmons on.id the same thing. talk to young voters right now. are you optimistic? >> you know, i love to quote my wonderful late friend and predecessor madeleine albright, who famously said, yes, i am an optimist who worries a lot, but i remain fundamentally optimistic, and nobody is going to take that away from me. you know, we are starting the clinton global initiative on monday. we're going to have people from around the world. members of the biden cabinet, people like jose and andreas who is such a hero, all kinds of people who are coming together to make a very clear, optimistic statement, we can get things done if we were together. we can find solutions to our problems. and then i'm very excited to not only be teaching at columbia university, but working to set up the institute of global politics, because we think that we can help find solutions to problems. you know, yes, is there a lot to be worried about, discouraged by, disheartened over? of course there is. but roll up their sleeves, q

ruth simmons, thank you so much for coming to the saturday show. >> up dates to a tragic breaking news has updated the death toll to 1037 people and more than 1200 injured after a powerful earthquake in morocco. the 6.8 magnitude quake reduced buildings to rubble, including in the historic city of marrakech. stay with msnbc throughout the day for the latest on this story. >> coming up next, an nba star forms of other son dynamic dewart to help foster youth sports development. the orlando magic's cole anthony and his mom, my, friend krystal mccrary maguire join me after the break to explain. eak to explain meet three students all learning to save and spend their money with chase. freedom for kids. hungry? thank you, chef. control for parents. nice. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours. oh stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! [sniffs] what is — wow! baby: daddy. sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare

ruth simmons, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> guest 3, speaker emerita democratic congresswoman nancy pelosi of california. >> so great to have you here. you have been in congress quite a while. you just haven't had enough, have you? you're going back for more. >> you haven't had enough. that's why i'm here today. good morning. good morning. good morning. wonderful to be with you and inspired by dr. simmons. my goodness. let me just say it was, yes. wonderful to see the bipartisanship that chuck and senator -- leader schumer and senator round brought to the show this morning and to the meetings yesterday, and we have to go forward in a bipartisan way and it's encouraging, but as i listened to dr. simmons, i am reminded that in addition to thinking of terms of guardrails and standards and all the kinds of things that we have to do and what's the agency that's going to run this, we have to improve -- improve ai as it goes forward, and it's apropos of dr. simmons' conversation with you. make sure we don't have bias. make sure our ch